Carry this home-made hand sanitizer mixture around with you and use after opening public doors, shaking hands, pushing shopping carts, pumping gas, and any other time you come in contact with something that can carry germs. Photo by Fred Anyona.
Nothing beats thoroughly washing your hands with hot soapy to help prevent the spread of germs, but using a good hand sanitizer is the next best thing if you’re not near a sink.
If your local store runs out of hand sanitizer, there are many sites that tell you how to make your own home made hand sanitizer lotion. While hand sanitizer recipes can differ slightly, the general rule is that hand sanitizer needs to have a strength of at least 60 percent isopropyl alcohol. To protect your hands, the other main ingredient is Aloe Vera gel. Most recipes suggest the mixture should contain at least two thirds part isopropyl rubbing alcohol (99 percent) to one-third part aloe-vera gel.
Here is one favorite home made hand sanitizer recipe we found from a 2019 biomedical PhD post:
Mix together:
2/3 cup rubbing alcohol (99% isopropyl alcohol)
1/3 cup aloe vera gel.
Stir well and store in a pump bottle.
Carry this mixture around with you and use after opening public doors, shaking hands, pushing shopping carts, pumping gas, and any other time you come in contact with something that can carry germs. And when you get home, wash your hands.
Photo by Martin Slavoljubovski
